Raccoons rounded up in Toronto amid possible viral outbreak

By
Staff The Canadian Press

Mon, Feb 12: Toronto police and the city's animal services department say multiple raccoons have been rounded up by officers, amid what they believe is a viral outbreak among animals that could be carrying a rabies-like infection. Tom Hayes reports.

Toronto police and the city’s animal services department say multiple raccoons have been rounded up by officers, amid what they believe is a viral outbreak among animals that could be carrying a rabies-like infection.

The latest incident, in the city’s Scarborough area, saw a man being chased down by a raccoon on the street Sunday morning, according to police.

Early reports by police suggested the man was bitten, but Toronto Animal Services said Sunday evening the raccoon only made contact with the man’s shoe.

Linda Jacobson, a veterinarian at the Toronto Humane Society, said the latest figures she had seen indicate a substantial increase, but there haven’t been any cases of a human being infected with rabies.

Toronto police are still warning residents to be careful around the animals.

Jacobson said an animal infected with rabies would display sudden changes in behaviour, would stagger and fall, have trouble eating or drinking and would make unusual sounds.

“Those are things that make you think of rabies, but rabies isn’t the only thing that causes those things,” said Jacobson, who said she had once seen an erratic raccoon that looked like it had rabies, but later tested positive for distemper.

In the event of a bite, Jacobson said you should immediately call your local public health unit, which would then explain the best course of action.

In the case of the incident in Scarborough, staff from Toronto’s animal services department say the animal has been euthanized and will be tested for any infections.

Ware said that raccoons that have distemper are always euthanized, as it’s a fatal infection that causes a painful death for the animal.

ANIMAL COMPLAINT: St Clair Av + Danforth Rd-Animal Services have caught the raccoon-Advise that there is a virus spreading through south end of city-Officers have picked up numerous raccoons over past few days*Community advised to be cautious*^dh